Requiem [COMPLETED]

Yeah, I Might Die, But it's All for Your Sake

            "Sven don't do the thing. It's a prank, they're messing with you."

"I do what I want," I muttered, sizing up the jump. It was recess; I had only been back to Wolverton for two weeks and the school bullies were forcing me into a stunt or else. What Chuck didn't know was that the 'or else' they had promised was to beat up Chuck if I couldn't do it.

"Sven it's a trap. Sven, you're gonna kill yourself."

I looked at him sideways without turning my head. "No one asked you. Go away if you don't want to be part of this." Please go away. Maybe if you go over to the recess aide they won't be able to get their hands on you. Chuck was the runt of his family, and at that gangly stage of childhood that was all arms and legs, boney knees.

I edged forward and gazed off the roof of the single-story school. It was a good 16 feet to the ground, maybe more. I felt the dry wind kicking sand up and squinted so it wouldn't get in my eyes. I felt a touch of vertigo, looking at how the building fell away in front of my toes and my body swayed ever so slightly, making me tense up to regain my balance. It seemed like a lot more than 10 feet of packed dirt schoolyard between me and the top of the jungle gym. People couldn't die from a fall at this height, right?

Chuck had been my best friend in kindergarten and first grade. Chuck had been the first to be friendly when we returned, to re-establish friendship with me. It was almost as if I'd never been gone. I knew I could get out of the challenge—with maybe a beating or two—but I knew the older kids wouldn't stop unless they saw that I couldn't be intimidated. I didn't want Chuck to suffer because I couldn't suck it up and bluff out this one dare.

"I need a running start."

"What? That's bullshit. You're jumping from the building to the monkey bars—"

"You didn't make starting from standing still a condition. And anyhow I need to run. To stretch out my legs for the jump."

Eyebrows were raised and more protests came, but the other kids weren't really going to stop me. They just wanted to see me go flying off the building, or crying in terror begging not to be dropped. I wasn't gonna give them the satisfaction of the latter option.

"Sven—"

"Chuck, shut up." Chuck stared at me, hurt and unsure of himself. I hadn't told him to shut up before. I knew how sensitive he was. "Get down on the playground. I need you to watch the jump down there. If I get hurt, then you can get help way faster down there. Go." Chuck worried his lip for a minute, then finally nodded and took off for the fire escape on the other end of the roof.

When I do something, I fucking commit. It's one of my defining characteristics—giving 110% or not giving a shit, no in-between. I stretched for a minute, then paced out the distance—twice—before going back to my chosen starting point, where the tar paper seams lined up perfectly in a four-square, which felt lucky somehow. I breathed in deeply for a few seconds, bending down like a sprinter, then opened my eyes and focused on the lip at the edge of the roof. I sped up quickly and pushed hard off of the lip to propel myself forward towards the jungle gym, it's grid of squares glinting in the hot sunlight. I swooped my arms together in front of me like a diver, hoping it would make me cut through the air better, get farther.

Shit it was so far away. HI was—wasn't—going to make it. Maybe—reach reeeach REAAAACH DAMN IT—and my outstretched hands grazed against the edge of a bar as I lost forward momentum and began to fall straight down. I managed to grab the next rung below and swung with full force against the pipes, knocking myself out.